A blog to communicate, discuss, and advocate for the civil rights and important role Small Flock Poultry Farmers can play (and should play) in Canadian Society.
Small Flockers are on the side of justice & truth, and against privilege & power. Unfortunately, the more we compromise with privilege and power, the more we reduce the capacity for truth and justice.

Saturday, November 30, 2013

Tail Wagging the Dog

Who is the Top Dog in Canada's farming sector? It depends on who you ask, but the arrogance of the #ChickenMafia and #EggMafia tends to taint the answer.

Figure 1: Farm income for various types of Canadian farms.Source: See Stats Canada Table 5 Median income of farm economic families by NAICS farm type in Canada, 2010

We might as well play to the swelled heads of the chicken & egg sector. They are rich compared to all other farmers, with median annual income of $90,250 per year, as shown in Figure 1 at the right (click graph for bigger version), making chicken & egg farmers the highest paid farmers in Canada. These millionaire, decadent high rollers represent only 2.1% of all farm families in Canada.

The median annual income of chicken and egg mega factories is 21.1% higher than the median farm income in Canada. If the COP (Cost Of Production) is supposedly set so they get "a reasonable return on their investment", why are they the richest farmers in Canada?

What justifies this dramatically higher income for the #ChickenMafia and #EggMafia? Note that their income is 9.43% above their nearest competitor, greenhouses. Look at the graph and see how their bar sticks out far more than the trend established by all other farming sectors.

The #ChickenMafia and #EggMafia are an outlier, due to them taking unfair advantage of the Canadian public. Why can't you ever find a Robin Hood when you need one?

The dairy farmer is the worst off in many ways. They have the lowest median income of just $65,010 and represent 7.9% of all farm families.

The farmers I speak with have great respect for how hard a dairy farmer must work. Almost all non-dairy farmers say they would never want to be a dairy farmer due to the slave-like job description and twice-a-day expectation to be milking cows.

However, farming isn't all about money.

Figure 2

The largest group of farmers are the "Oilseed and grain farmers" who represent 29.7% of all farmers.

If we take the median income for a farming sector, and multiply it by the % of Canadian farm families in that sector, we can quickly calculate the weighted fraction of total Canadian farming income produced by that farming sector. That data is shown in Figure 2.

The first remarkable fact is that the chicken and egg boys drop from 1st place, down to the "Useful Many" (or "Trivial Many", as you please), as defined by Pareto; 3rd from last place. Of the SM5, only dairy is in the "Vital Few" category. The biggest producer of income are the oilseed & grain farmers, due to the high value crops, as well as their strength in numbers.

If the government wants to listen to the farming sector, they best be listening to the oilseeds and grain farmers first and foremost.

Unfortunately, the chicken and egg boys keep grabbing the microphone away from all other farmers. The #ChickenMafia and #EggMafia boys squeal and whine and cause a scene until they are at the front of the line, and always insist on getting their own way. What age group are you reminded of by that description?

As long as the #ChickenMafia and #EggMafia are allowed to control the farming show, they will naturally continue to do so.

Who better to reign in the SM5 Mafia than the other farming sectors? When you look at the comments on Better Farming and many other websites, it is obvious that there is growing understanding about the SM5 Mafia and their need for center stage.

Once the farming community has had enough of the SM5 whining and taking advantage of the situation, likely the public will soon wise up shortly thereafter.

How long will the tail be allowed to wag the dog?

Once all other farmers decide to reign in the renegade and bad acting SM5 Mafia, it will be the beginning of the end for the SM5 Mafia, and their abuse of Canadians.

1 comment:

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